MUST KNOW DORM HACKS

HI, This article is about dorm room hacks that we all must know. This article includes security doormat, Sugru key holder, hack for fixing rat bitten wires/cables, and a simple hack to utilise that extra space in your wardrobe. Pardon me if there is any grammatical mistakes. Here it goes!!

Supplies:

Step 1: HACK #1:FIX YOUR WIRES/CABLES BITTEN BY RATS

We all might have faced this problem rats eating and chewing our cables, wires, etc.. To fix bitten wire follow the steps below

Step 2:

I have used classic red colour in-order to differentiate sugru with wire, I recommend you to use sugru of same colour of the wire.

Step 3:

Clean the wire then cut and strip them neatly because if you leave as it is then it may lead to shorting of circuit. Note the way I cut as shown in the picture, Cut in such a way that it won't get bulged.

Now join them by twisting them together Red with Red and Black with Black.

Step 4:

Take Sugru and roll it into a rod shape and flatten it out.

Wrap the flattened Sugru around your cable, shape it like outer plastic cable(recommended).

Now use a bit of soapy water to smoothen the surface.

Leave the Sugru to cure over night.

THAT'S IT FINISHED!

YOU HAVE FIXED YOUR BITTEN WIRE!!

Step 5: HACK #2:BUGLAR ALARM IN DOORMAT

When we are busy doing our stuffs in our dorm room keeping our door open for air circulation or for other reasons, we are very much little aware of someone coming into our room. This is a good chance for a stranger to get into our room and lift away our belonging. Recently I lost my digital camera which was on the table near the door. So I got this idea of making DOORMAT BURGLAR ALARM here onwards people like me don't have to worry about keeping their doors opened and doing some busy stuffs, because this doormat alarms when an intruder enters into your room ha ha.

I have made a simple model of doormat burglar alarm because I always prefer to make stuffs simple! Otherwise You can even add wireless alarm speakers and notification lights, sounds, IoT and a lot to this doormat using Arduino and more...

WORKING PRINCIPLE:when someone steps on the doormat circuit gets closed and makes the buzzer to alarm and notifies you that someone has stepped into your room!

Step 6: THINGS REQUIRED

DOORMAT

ALUMINIUM FOIL

CARDBOARD (Thin and Stiff)

SCISSOR

CELLO TAPE

CUTTER

BUZZER

9 V BATTERY

SPONGE SHEET

WIRES

Step 7:

The colored portion denotes the most probable place where one makes his step. So we are going to focus on this area more, SO CUT CARDBOARD AND ALUMINIUM FOIL WITH THE DIMENSION LITTLE LESS THAN YOUR DOORMAT OF INTEREST,

To say exactly your cardboard dimension should be 5 cm less in both lengthwise and also breadthwise.

Therefore from these dimensions you can easily understand the height of my doormat that it is very tough for the intruder to notice the mechanism underneath the doormat.

So my advise is that choose thickness of cardboard and sponge so that it do not significantly affect the height of your doormat burglar alarm!.

Step 8:

TOP :

Take cardboard (Cardboard's dimensions should be less than your dimension of your doormat of your interest) and wrap one side with aluminium foil, Wrap even the sides as shown in the picture.

Take buzzer and connect its negative (-) terminal to the aluminium foil on cardboard. keep it aside and lets do the bottom part.

BOTTOM:

Place aluminium foil on floor(Dimension same as the cardboard) and affix it to the floor using cello tape.

Connect (-) terminal of your 9 V battery to aluminium foil on floor.

Step 9:

MIDDLE LAYER:

Cut sponge sheet into 7 small squares as shown in first picture.

Arrange those pieces on foil(BOTTOM layer) as shown in the picture for best result.

If you are having a doormat of different design or shape then arrange sponge pieces on bottom layer in such a way that both layers must have minimum gap when top layer is placed if required add some more sponge pieces.

Place the TOP layer(cardboard wrapped with foil) over the foil on floor and sponge between them.

Step 10:

Ensure that there is no contact between both layers(cardboard part and foil on floor)

Now connect those left out terminals(positive) of BATTERY and BUZZER

Buzzer should not sound, if it gives sound then there is contact between both top and bottom layers, it may be because cardboard has bent or there may not be equal distribution of sponges which is making both layers contact so please adjust or alter the sponge shape and its number depending on your doormat design and shape, because as I mentioned before this article works on this principle, when someone steps on the doormat both layers come in contact and closes the circuit and makes the buzzer to alarm and that notifies you that someone has stepped into your room!

Step 11:

PLACE THE DOORMAT ON THEM.

Want to see visually how doormat alarms you. I have uploaded the video of how this stuff work. Its a 9 sec video, When I step on the doormat it alarms thats the only thing I have recorded, pardon me because in our university they have blocked youtube otherwise I would have uploaded the full version!.

THAT'S IT YOU HAVE MADE YOUR BURGLAR ALARM IN YOUR DOORMAT.

LEAVE YOUR WORRIES TO YOUR DOORMAT AND KEEP DOING YOUR STUFFS.

Attachments

Step 12: HACK #3:SUGRU MAGNETIC KEY HOLDER

This is a simple hack using Sugru mouldable glue, You can make N no. of holders arranged in zig-zag pattern or any other design/pattern based on your interest and requirements and even using different colours for each holder for identification like black for bike key, white for car key, etc. XD

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5 Discussions

You really have some great ideas here, although I presume Sugru is easily available on internet, I never heard of it (I do live in the mountains in France, explains a lot!), but I'm going to source some, as it sounds invaluable, especially for connections electric. Tank you, sincerely, for yo